The present application relates generally to apparatus, methods and/or systems concerning the design of turbine rotor blade tips. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, the present application relates to apparatus, methods and/or systems related to turbine blade tips that include a trailing edge trench cavity that, among other advantages, improves the cooling of the blade tip.
In a gas turbine engine, it is well known that air pressurized in a compressor is used to combust a fuel in a combustor to generate a flow of hot combustion gases, whereupon such gases flow downstream through one or more turbines so that energy can be extracted therefrom. In accordance with such a turbine, generally, rows of circumferentially spaced turbine rotor blades extend radially outwardly from a supporting rotor disk. Each blade typically includes a dovetail that permits assembly and disassembly of the blade in a corresponding dovetail slot in the rotor disk, as well as an airfoil that extends radially outwardly from the dovetail and interacts with the flow of the working fluid through the engine.
The airfoil has a generally concave pressure side and generally convex suction side extending axially between corresponding leading and trailing edges and radially between a root and a tip. It will be understood that the blade tip is spaced closely to a radially outer turbine shroud for minimizing leakage therebetween of the combustion gases flowing downstream between the turbine blades. Improved efficiency of the engine is obtained by minimizing the tip clearance or gap such that leakage is prevented, but this strategy is limited somewhat by the different thermal and mechanical expansion and contraction rates between the rotor blades and the turbine shroud and the motivation to avoid an undesirable scenario of having the tip rub against the shroud during operation.
In addition, because turbine blades are bathed in hot combustion gases, effective cooling is required for ensuring a useful part life. Typically, the blade airfoils are hollow and disposed in flow communication with the compressor so that a portion of pressurized air bled therefrom is received for use in cooling the airfoils. Airfoil cooling is quite sophisticated and may be employed using various forms of internal cooling channels and features, as well as cooling holes through the outer walls of the airfoil for discharging the cooling air. Nevertheless, airfoil tips are particularly difficult to cool since they are located directly adjacent to the turbine shroud and are heated by the hot combustion gases that flow through the tip gap. Accordingly, a portion of the air channeled inside the airfoil of the blade is typically discharged through the tip for the cooling thereof.
It will be appreciated that conventional blade tip design includes several different geometries and configurations that are meant prevent leakage and increase cooling effectiveness. Exemplary patents include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,789 to Butts et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,556 to Bunker; U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,129 to Mayer et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,530 to Lee. Conventional blade tip designs, however, all have certain shortcomings, including a general failure to adequately reduce leakage and/or allow for efficient tip cooling that minimizes the use of efficiency-robbing compressor bypass air. Improvement in the pressure distribution near the tip region is still sought to further reduce the overall tip leakage flow and thereby increase turbine efficiency. As a result, a turbine blade tip design that alters the pressure distribution near the tip region and otherwise reduces the overall tip leakage flow, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the turbine engine, would be in great demand. Further, it is also desirable for such a blade tip to enhance the cooling characteristics of the cooling air that is released at the blade tip, as well as, enhancing the overall aerodynamic performance of the turbine blade. Particularly, it would be desirable for an improved tip design that better allowed the flow of cooling air to move toward the trailing edge of the tip blade, which, generally, is a difficult area to cool.